Home Builder Confidence Jumps For First Time In 12 Months — As Housing Market ‘Turning Point’ May Be Here

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released Wednesday found the closely-tracked metric rose to 35 this month, with the index tracking survey results from builders regarding current and projected single-family home sales and buyer traffic on a scale of 0 to 100.

That’s a four-point increase from December, but still a far-cry from the 83 reading last January as the housing market deteriorated over the course of 2022.

“A turning point for housing lies ahead,” NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz said in a statement, predicting housing starts, or the number of new homes beginning construction, will soon rise off of their two-year lows as demand recovers following mortgage rates’ projected decline.

Non-housing data also released Wednesday likely spelled good news for mortgage rates, which surged to a two-decade high as the Federal Reserve relentlessly hiked the federal funds rate to combat inflation.

Producer prices fell 0.5% from November to December while retail sales declined 1.1% in that timeframe, both slipping faster than economist estimates, according to federal government data, indicating the Fed’s fight to slow inflation and cool the economy continue to bear fruit, stoking optimism about an upcoming pivot from the central bank.